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"The dog, he argues from reason."

Posted Wednesday morning, February 7, 2018.

Poirot is definitely onto something. He almost always is. But what really struck me in this passage was that in 1937 when Dumb Witness was published, the mail was still being delivered more than once a day. But then, imagine what it would be like in the back room of the post office if all our DMs, Facebook Messages, and email was still written and sent on paper. By the way, Captain Hastings is narrating, and Captain Hastings is very much a doggy person…

“Is he an old dog?” [I asked.]

“Oh, no, sir.” [replied Ellen the housekeeper.] “Bob’s not more than six. And sometimes he behaves like a puppy. Gets hold of cook’s slippers and prances about with them. And he’s very gentle though you wouldn’t believe the noise he makes sometimes. The only person he has it in for is the postman. Downright scared of him, the postman is.”

Bob was now investigating the legs of Poirot’s trousers. Having learned all he could he gave vent to a prolonged sniff (“H’m, not too bad, but not really a doggy person.”) and returned to me, cocking his head on one side and looking at me expectantly.

“I don’t know why dogs go for postmen, I’m sure,” continued [Ellen].

“It’s a matter of reasoning,” said Poirot. “The dog, he argues from reason. He is intelligent, he makes his deductions according to his point of view. There are people who may enter a house there are people who may not---that a dog soon learns. Eh bien, who is the person who most persistently tries to gain admission, rattling on the door twice or three times a day---and who is never admitted? The postman. Clearly, then, an undesirable guest fro the point of view of the master of the house. He is always sent about his business, but he persistently returns and tries again. Then a dog’s duty, is clear, to aid in driving the undesirable man away, and to bit him if possible. A most reasonable proceeding.”

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Yes, one of the fun things about Christie's books is her descriptions of how middle- and upper-middle class England lived. Her description of how to celebrate Christmas in a country house, in The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding, is really priceless.
At least two of Christie's short stories have the whole plot hinge on late mail deliveries.
In Third Floor Flat, the victim's body must be hidden and an elaborate plot laid to get into the apartment after the last mail of the day has been delivered, so that the murderer can steal a lawyer's letter that reveals the motive for the crime. In Four and Twenty Blackbirds. a nephew uses a faked postmark on a letter to make it look like it was delivered in the last mail of the day, making it look like the poor uncle died just after the rich uncle passed away and thus leaving the nephew to inherit the estate.